Michael hebrews



(No Model.)

M. HERRENS.

. GAR COUPLING. N0.'253-,20.4.' Patented Feb. 7,1882.

ILL

NITED TATES PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL HERRENS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 253,204, dated February '7', 1882.

Application filed July 2, 1881. (No model.)'

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MICHAEL HERRENS, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplings; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had totheaccompanyingdrawings,which form apart of this specification.

My invention relates to car-couplings; and the novelty consists in the construction and arrangement of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

The invention is designed as an improve ment upon the device for a similar purpose patented to me September 30, 1879, and numbered 220,146, practice and experiment in the art'under said patent having demonstrated to me that it was difficult, if not impossible, to disengage the coupling devices while under draft, and that in order to uncouple the cars the said cars had to bebrought into such proximity with each other as to slacken the coupling devices, thus relievingthe intense friction upon the hearings between hook and the adjacentdraw-hcad. Inthepresentdevicelhave also attached means for automatically holding up the operating-lever which depresses and' disengages the coupling-hook.

The essential objects of the invention are,

first, to provide means for uncoupling the cars while under draft at will, and, second, to provide means for holding the coupling-hook out of operation when desired.

To these ends the invention consists, first, in forming the hook-bearing upon an incline which extends downwardly and forwardly, and, second, in providing a standard carrying a gravital hook and a contiguous friction-spring arranged within the stroke of the operatinglever by which theunconplingis accomplished.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section showing the inclined bearing surfaces; and Fig. 2, a side elevation, partly in section.

To enable others skilled in the art to which the invention relates to make and use the same, I will describe its construction and mode of operation, reference being had to the drawings,

in which similar letters indicate like parts in both the figures.

A represents the draw-head; B, the bufferface; (J, the dividing-partition, and D the draw-bar proper. E E are the coupling-bars; c, the operating-lever secured thereto, by which the operator can safely couple or uncouple the cars without exposing his person to danger; c, the enlarged or weighted portion; 6 the flattened shank, and c the head, hook, or quadrantal lugs forming the same. These parts are fully shown and described in the patent hereinbefore mentioned, and upon which the present device is an improvement, and form of themselves no part of this invention; hence further description is unnecessary.

Formed within the drawhead A B 0 is a downwardly and forwardly inclined bearing, F, against whichthe head c of the couplingbar E abuts when the said bar of the adjacent car is in operation. In this wall F, near the bottom, is an opening sufiicient to admit the head of the coupling bar, and a vertical slot to admit of its being moved up and down, the slotembracingthe shank c Theincline bearing F allows the barE to bereadily disengaged, even while the cars are under draft, by means of the operating-lever e, and when such lever is elevated sufficiently to have accomplished the uncoupling it impinges upon a spring, I, with sufficieut friction to hold the said lever thus elevated and the spring depressed within the reach of a gravital pivoted hook, J. This hook is pivoted between the bifurcated jaws It of astandard, K, secured to one side of the draw-head, and the spring is also secured upon the same standard. When the lever e is thus imprisoned by the hook J the bar-head c of the coupler is held out of operation, but may readily be thrown againinto operation by overcoming the force of the spring, as is obvious.

' Modifications indetails of construction may be made without departing from the principle of my invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof.

The essential features of the invention lie in the inclined bearing-surface F, allowing uncoupling to be accomplished while under draft,

and in proper means for holding the operatinglever elevated and the coupling-bar out of operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The bearing-surface F,inclined downward and forward, combined with the coupling-bar E, having head or hook 0 and operating-lever 6, to allow the uncoupling of the cars when under draft, as specified. 

